A 36 key choc keyboard based on the Horizon construction and a trimmed down BabyV layout!
The Horizon features a very unique and innovative construction and when I saw it, I knew
I had to build one... but I've become really enamoured with the Miryoku
layout on my BabyV. So I decided to mash them together and see what happens.
Thus the chocV was born!
Skarrmann has a wonderful description of the concept, but the main idea is to generate at least TWO pcb's for the keyboard. One standard PCB with traces and all the components, and a second which bolts directly under with cutouts that match all the components on the first to protect them (and your desk) from damage. This ends up creating a really tidy and very low profile board.
The specific footprints used and a plugin for KiCad to enable easy generation of the muiltiple PCB's can be found in the Horizon repo. It's a very clever idea which is executed exceptionally well. All I did was re-arrange it a bit to get a layout I prefer. I've added the KiCad files I generated in this repo as an example or jumping off point for others.
I used JLCPCB, as the original did, and the boards turned out great. If you'd like to order a set of your own, the three gerber zip files are in the /gerbers folder. You'll need one of each to build a full board and I suggest you take a look through the Horizon repo to get a sense for the build process.
I've built two complete boards, one based on the Elite-C to serve as a wired board and one built around a Nice:Nano for wireless functionality.
The Miryoku layout is what I use across all my boards. It's very flexible and can be used/implemented on just about any physical layout. I've used it on split boards mostly, but when I got the BabyV I feel like I really hit a sweet spot. Splits are great, and they do feel better when I do a lot of typing, but the BabyV has a great sound, good looks, and monoblocks are just easier to manage on a desk... it might have a few too many keys, but nothing is perfect :-)
Miryoku has both a fully supported QMK build system and a work in progress system for ZMK. If you are looking for a well thought-out minimalist layout, I can't recommend it enough.
If you are interested in building a chocV, feel free to use the files here and to reach out with any questions. Happy Keyboarding!
